Updated November 10, 2017 at 6:02 PM;Posted November 10, 2017 at 4:51 PM

Springfield police headquarters on Pearl Street. The department will no longer hold prisoners overnight but will instead transport them to the Hampden County jail for holding. (File photo / The Republican)

LUDLOW - The decision by Springfield police to get out of the overnight accommodations business is a benefit to the department, Springfield residents, and to those who end up as involuntary guests, said Sheriff Nick Cocchi.

Announced this week by Springfield Police Commissioner John Barbieri, the move allows the transfer of those in Springfield Police custody to the sheriff's department and moves the county closer to the creation of a regional police lockup facility, Cocchi said.

Cocchi, who campaigned for the sheriff's job two years ago with the promise of a regional police lockup, said the move makes sense for all concerned.

"It puts police officers back on the street and it lets us do what we do," Cocchi said.

A big chunk of what the sheriff's department does, Cocchi said, is to hold onto prisoners and keep them safe until they can be brought into court.

Springfield, the largest city, with the greatest number of arrests daily, automatically becomes "our biggest customer," Cocchi said. "That's no surprise there."

According to the change announced by Springfield police, beginning Thursday, anyone arrested too late in the day to be brought to district court for arraignment will be turned over to the Hampden County Sheriff's Department. For all intents, that will affect anyone arrested weekdays between 4 p.m. and 3 a.m. or at any time on a weekend or a holiday when the courts are closed.

Men will be taken to the Hampden County Correctional Center in Ludlow, and women will be taken to the Western Massachusetts Regional Women's Correctional Center in Chicopee.

Ryan Walsh, Springfield Police Department spokesman, said the change has been in the works for some time.

"Many police departments are already doing this," he said. "But do to the volume of prisoners that Springfield would provide to the Sheriff's Department, we made sure to fine tune the plan."

Springfield police headquarters has several holding cells for prisoners. They were designed primarily for holding someone overnight prior to an initial court arraignment. They were not intended to hold someone for any extended time beyond that, he said.

Someone arrested for a minor offence will still be offered a chance to post bail before being transported, and someone held in protective custody will be held at the Springfield station, Walsh said.

"The Hampden County Corrections Centers have facilities that are more appropriate for longer stays," he said.

Cocchi said getting Springfield on board moves things a notch closer to fulfilling a campaign pledge of establishing a regional police lockup.

With the additional of Springfield, nearly every community in the county transports prisoners to the county jail for overnight holding. The only holdout so far, Cocchi said, is Holyoke.

Holyoke is interested, and may yet join, Cocchi said, but issues dealing with transportation have to be worked out.

The distance from Springfield police headquarters on Pearl Street to the men's jail in Ludlow is a little over 10 miles, or 20 roundtrip.

The one-way distance from Holyoke police headquarters on Appleton Street to Ludlow is between 9.5 and 10.5 miles depending on the route taken.

Cocchi said prior to Springfield joining in, West Springfield police use the regional jail most commonly. The West Springfield station is roughly 11.5 miles from Ludlow.

Departments are responsible for transporting prisoners to the jail. Once they are dropped off, the sheriff's department holds them overnight and drives them to the courthouse for arraignment the next morning.

For now, prisoners will be booked, photographed and fingerprinted at the arresting department's station. Once the booking paperwork is completed, they will be transported to the appropriate jail facility.

Cocchi said that one day a booking facility could be built at the jail that would allow departments to take prisoners there directly for booking. Officers could write their arrest reports at the jail. Such a setup would cost around $500,000.

Cocchi said he met with several area police chiefs recently and a regional lockup seemed to be the No. 1 common issue.

A regional system frees up salaries that would be spent on having booking officers in the station and puts them on patrol. Police departments are required to periodically check on inmates being held overnight to prevent suicides. Departments are also freed of the liability that can result if a prisoner dies or is injured.

The officers at the men's and women's facilities specialize in holding prisoners. The jail is properly staffed, the staff is properly trained to deal with an inmate who may be addicted to drugs or is suicidal, Cocchi said. The cells are monitored by video and the facilities have medical staff on duty continually.

The cost and the liability concerns are, Cocchi said, "a huge part of it."

He said there's not a police chief anywhere who would not want to pass off that responsibility for inmate care.

The Springfield police station has around 60 holding cells but as many as half of them are no longer suitable for holding prisoners.

Following the death of a prisoner in Springfield police custody due to an aneurysm, there have been calls to fit the booking area with a video surveillance system to monitor each of the cells. One recent estimate put the cost at around $100,000.

Cocchi said for Springfield to bring its holding cell area up to code, the cost would be in the millions.